Why is everyone worried about mortgages but no one worried about pensions?

[Icanstillrecallourlastsummer]

There's numerous threads with people wanting to pay thousands to get out of their mortgages, but noone seems concerned that pension funds are (or were, before urgent intervention from the BoE) on the brink of collapse as result of the mini-budget.

Anyone urgently cashing in on their pensions?

I am starting to understand it, thanks! But why are some PPs complaining they've lost money on their pensions this week? I'm not worried about my (admittedly small) private pension as it hasn't lost much at all. To answer the OPs question, this whole crisis hasn't got me spooked about my pension and investments at all as they're holding up well, and I've no reason to believe they won't continue to do so. My mortgage on the other hand is a different kettle of fish. I'm really quite worried about that, as it looks like I'll be paying much much more for it in a couple of years.

DC schemes have lost money because they will also invest in equities (and some corporate bonds/gilts/cash) and the equity part has fallen. As well as the price of the bonds/gilts. It’s worth noting there is an inverse relationship between bond/gilt prices I.e the cash price to buy them and the yield (return) you make on them. The lower the price, the higher the yield and vice versa.

I was a SAHM mum until my youngest went to junior school. I get £200 a month on top of my state pension and have to pay for everything. It really pisses me off that if I got less and had pension credit all the stuff I have to pay for would be free. I pay my rates, dental fees and everything.

And I take the same view a you @Hayliebells I have a DC scheme, the value has fallen (mainly the equities), but I’m 20yrs away from retirement so it has time to recover. My mortgage on the other hand - far more immediate issue!

My advice for those with 10+ years to retirement is to just not look, save for seeing what funds you are invested in. A low fee, global passive fund is suitable for most people and if the global economy implodes and never recovers we are all fucked anyway.
Don’t just stay on an employers default lifestyle option, they are only suitable if you plan to buy an annuity - if you don’t then you’ll still need at least 60-75% equities to carry you through maybe 30 years of retirement.

no
i look at my mum she has a small pension and is marginal better off than state pension and pension credit
tbh there things she’d get if she was on pension credit so all those years of saving were for nothing

My Sister has a small annuity of £120 a month and before she became disabled enough for PiP, Housing benefit and pension credit, she was £70 a week worse off than someone without a pension ( other than State).

Annuities are still utter crap Don't go for them.

My plan is to take the 25% to improve my home, upgrade appliances etc as soon as I’m able to and then spend 10 years drawing down the rest by which point I’m more than happy to throw myself on the mercy of the government. I won’t need much at that stage just sweets for the grandchildren.

If you are not collecting or plan to collect in the near future, this is actually sort of a good thing. If you are able now is the time to increase contributions… if your investments are diversified and intended for long term holding, then periods like this are the equivalent of a stock up sale.

Now, those collecting are screwed and it may mean a deferral of retirement plans or financial ruin for those on a fixed income. And yes everyone should be running what-if scenarios in your head when you are in this situation, because I can almost guarantee that everyone will face a recession in their retirement. So hopefully it will get some thinking about planning for retirement.

There's always an on going debate, pay off mortgage or invest it instead.

I personally think this sort of crisis with the fear of rates rising, it really pays to pay down the house/ as well/at least.

@user6497219 @user1487194234

Sorry couldn't remember which one said they have 20ngrand used as draw down.

What does this mean?

Since 2008 there have been no lump sums in local govt pensions. Any lump sum is as a result of membership prior to 2008.

£1,000,000,000,000 has been lost on pensions since the financial statement last Friday.

This. Plus - anyone approaching retirement would (or should) have been moving funds into "cash" funds to mitigate for potentially unexpected scenarios like this.

I'm a couple of years away from pension drawdown, but converted 80% of my funds to cash 12 months ago. The value won't go up or down, but at least I know exactly what I have to live on. The other 20% could go either way.

The real value of that cash is dropping at about 10% every year now.

No pension and never had a mortgage.
No debt to speak of either, or savings.
Sometimes financial illit

That's true...which is why when I did my calculations, I built in 15% inflation year-on-year. Can't see it being 15% each year for the next 30-50 years, but better safe than sorry.

@Parky04 I'm in the same position as your DC and hoping it recovers! I think I'm approx £5k down on where I was last year which is worrying.

It's not real losses, unless you sell the funds in a panic. Ten years is loads of time. It will have recovered long before then. I wouldn't even look at it if I were you

Everything is worrying but I suppose right now, I’m worrying more about being homeless in the next several months than I am about my pension which I can’t claim for another 30+ years

That was me, I didn't explain that well at all, it's a small workplace pension that I saved in that I use like a savings account, drawdown is when you take chunks out of a pension pot rather than an annuity which gives you an income, I use this small pension rather like a savings account and hadn't really given it a lot of thought but now I wonder if I should take the lot out when it has grown back a bit and put it in a normal savings account.

My main final salary pension is just over the level that you pay tax so I have to pay 20% tax on this small pension when I draw it out whatever I do, I already took out the 25% tax free amount. I think because it isn't my main pension I hadn't really thought much about how it was invested so I probably need to look a that a bit more to decide what to do with it and if putting it into a savings account may be better.

I think people worry about the immediate future before the long term. It’s ok though once they’ve got rid of the NHS most of won’t live long enough to claim a pension.

I know that?

Converting 80% of your pension into cash pre-retirement is insane for most people - you might be lucky enough if savings rates sky rocket and you can build a multi year, fixed rate ladder but unless you have specific circumstances then how will that cash last you 20-30 years if inflation stays high? Unless it’s £1million plus of course, then even 4% interest will give you £40k.
25% cash I can understand but not . 80% , unless you have a nice DB pension to look forward to as well as State Pension.
We are lucky in that DH gets a military pension in 2025 at 60 so that will go straight into his Sipp and stay as cash to build the buffer I keep banging on about. The catch is if he dies, I only get half so I insured against that when we hit 50 by taking out life insurance up until he is 75 but after that I’ll be around £6k a year worse off than he would be if I died first.

Its worth converting it into cash if it is a very small pension pot. I will do this and go away an amazing holiday with it. Because the tiny amount I will receive in pension every month is really not worth it.